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I am an inch away from being fired and just got offered a job that is a dollar less now hour, but potential for commission, but is 10 miles further commute than my current job. What do I do?
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Jul 25, 2012 23:08
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I only have a small dataset to work with, but I think if you have a lot of lovely customers, depending on the situation, your attitude is probably affecting it. Granted, I may have a different set of callers with different expectations and levels of annoyance in my job, but there are 2 people around me that escalate calls way more than I do. I maybe get 1 a day, 0-1, they get 4-5+ a day. You have to maintain that benefit of the doubt that you're going to have a good call and help someone out at the start of every single call. If it leaves your voice and your attitude and your verbiage, you're sunk, you're going to have more poo poo calls. I've had calls where people start off furious but if you go in with an attitude of helping, explanation, and mutual understanding, you can calm them down and get poo poo done. If it's your company's fault, apologize profusely, take ownership of the situation. Give them your name again, and your extension and tell them you're going to personally follow their issue until it's resolved. Let them know that you're aware of what happened, and that feedback will be given to the party's manager that messed up. If it's their fault, sympathize. Don't just tell them the process and procedure, explain why it is the way it is. I hear so many reps just say in a lovely way "Well, we needed a signed form from you to stop that increase", tell them it's a state law requirement to get a signed form, explain why if applicable. It can get hard if someone is insistent they never received communication, but detail each attempt to get in contact with them instead of just saying "We sent it to you", tell them on what day, tell them when a reminder was sent, tell them when e-mails went out and when calls were made. If it's a third party's fault, offer to conference in the third party. I've brought dealerships, agents, banks, DMVs, etc. onto a three way to get things done. Joe Schmoe asking for something isn't much, but if you're Joe Rep from X Company, and are requesting a professional courtesy to get something done, then it can help sometimes, and if it doesn't, it makes you look good and the third party look shittier. Also be proactive with easy accommodations. I shake the fee tree a lot just to make people feel better. If someone is paying their bill and wonders why it's $5 higher this month, and I say it's a late fee, I follow up and offer to waive it, depending on what their billing history looks like and what their situation feels like over the phone. Maybe keeping an extra $5 in their bank account will let them get another meal or a pack of smokes or whatever.
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Jul 25, 2012 23:35
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One of our managers has taken to sending passive-aggressive motivational e-mails about how much we owe the company and how having numbers that are less than 98% in our metrics reflects an obvious character flaw. I'm really tempted to start sending passive-aggressive replies using a fake e-mail. The main thing holding back is that I think everyone would immediately know it was me. On a technical level, I don't see how someone could track me if I used an anonymous Yahoo! e-mail address or something. However, I think I would need to have one of my friends make up something in response to one of these e-mails, because I'm worried something about my tone might slip out if I write it, even if I try to completely change it from the way I normally write at work. quote:I am an inch away from being fired and just got offered a job that is a dollar less now hour, but potential for commission, but is 10 miles further commute than my current job. What do I do? Does your part of town have a bus system? It might be a good idea to get a bus pass, depending on what's in your budget for gas. It's tough to judge commission without knowing much about the company itself. What does glassdoor.com think about the potential for earning bonuses and the fairness on the commission rates? Either way, if you're about to get fired, you probably need a change. If you can afford the transportation costs, I would go for it. Loving Life Partner posted:I only have a small dataset to work with, but I think if you have a lot of lovely customers, depending on the situation, your attitude is probably affecting it. I somewhat agree with this. I do feel like I get only one person a month or week who is completely unreasonable. What frustrates me is when I talk to someone who is hard of hearing or just perpetually confused by everything or totally unprepared for the call (i.e., talking to friends while talking to me, takes two minutes to answer lots of questions even after I tell them to expect questions about their vehicle/bill/etc), because I'm just not used to dealing with that. legsarerequired fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Jul 26, 2012 |
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Jul 25, 2012 23:57
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Loving Life Partner posted:I only have a small dataset to work with, but I think if you have a lot of lovely customers, depending on the situation, your attitude is probably affecting it. I love the customers for the most part, and do the best I can to help them above and beyond. It's the new micro management and my lack of drive for my job that's got me close to unemployment. I've been doing it for 5 years and hate every minute of it. I think I'll take the new job
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Jul 26, 2012 01:51
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Yeah, I was on the edge for awhile, I almost got fired over stats being 2-4% off. It makes you sick and fed up with the rigid corporate structure. I take 100 calls a day on average, 25 of them or so get transferred out to somewhere else, 50 are rote calls like taking payments or extending due dates, but a good 25 people get great service from me and have their problems solved in satisfactory ways, and a person or two will tell me "I've made their day" regularly But spend 6 minutes more than you're allowed doing this, or have THIS stat 2% off, or whatever, and you have to have meetings with floor supervisors asking pointed questions like "Do you really think you should be working here?" That's why I'm so chuffed they just did away with our post-call survey, it was hounding me forever. Between that and building a new set of time management habits, I should be in the clear and never have to deal with managers again.
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Jul 26, 2012 01:57
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I was wondering if any ex-call center employees are dealing with phone phobias in new positions. I worked in a call center for a year, and 80% of my calls were people screaming and yelling at me (Insurance industry). After a year, I got fed up, realized that this was probably the best job I was going to get and started school. I've recently started a very small part time job (for a VERY small business), and part of it requires that I go on the phone and talk with either current or potential customers. I get extremely anxious, and nervous before and during the call. I haven't had any customer even raise their voice at me, and in fact they've all been nice, but i'm just scared about what COULD happen. I get bad flashbacks of some of the nastier calls that I got like one where the guy said "You think with a name like [insert my unique RL name here] I can't track you down easily?" I'm seriously scared to talk on the phone with customers now. My doctor prescribed me anti-anxiety pills for a different situation, and I typically take one of those before I make calls. I was just wondering if anyone else was going through the same thing.
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Jul 26, 2012 02:05
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Weird, I'm in the same industry, call center wise, and I've only gained confidence when on the phone. I hated calling places and asking for things and pushing to get something taken care of, now I know how to ask and what to ask for and it's made my life a lot easier.
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Jul 26, 2012 02:13
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Oh, my part time job isn't in the insurance industry. It's in the fitness industry. So basically I call people who haven't shown up to classes and say "hey, we miss you" and small things like that. The problem with the insurance call center work was that I was the "front lines" for claims. I was sort of the gate keeper of potential claims. Customers would call in with their problems, and I would determine if there was potential for there to coverage or not. I couldn't officially state that it was or wasn't coverable. I could only say that it might not be coverable, explain why, and then offer them to file a claim anyway.
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Jul 26, 2012 02:27
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UtahIsNotAState posted:I was wondering if any ex-call center employees are dealing with phone phobias in new positions. Working in a cal center has made me much less fearful of phones, but I was always pretty introverted and have been becoming more social since getting my call center job, so it may be a coincidence.
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Jul 26, 2012 06:52
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Got a job offer for a job with practicality no commute, a nice raise, no weekends. It's not a call center. I took it. I am done with call centers. I am loving done. Done.
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Jul 26, 2012 23:23
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Congratulations! It's always a happy day when someone gets out.
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Jul 27, 2012 02:34
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JackRabbitStorm posted:Got a job offer for a job with practicality no commute, a nice raise, no weekends. It just sucks that I planned on using this as a stepping stone (And a source of real money), and now I'm mired in this poo poo, and basically this experience can't get me anywhere else. gently caress. Gotta work on certs I guess.
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Jul 27, 2012 16:47
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Congrats, man. My fourth anniversary is in 20 days... I've got all the makings of a lifer. I'm jealous of people who get out because, by the time I get home, I'm too drained to even update my loving resume, much less look for another job. The one time I tried to look for another job, I couldn't find anything with comparable pay to my hourly+differential that wasn't just another call center. The fiery flames of hell don't have a thing on being forced to listen to stupid old people ramble about their car problems and financial woes 40 hours a week. 
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Jul 27, 2012 16:50
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JackRabbitStorm posted:Got a job offer for a job with practicality no commute, a nice raise, no weekends. I just read through your post history to catch up on your history, as I knew you had been posting for some time. I really do hope that this new job works out for you!
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Jul 27, 2012 18:09
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martyrdumb posted:Congrats, man. My fourth anniversary is in 20 days... I've got all the makings of a lifer. I'm jealous of people who get out because, by the time I get home, I'm too drained to even update my loving resume, much less look for another job. The one time I tried to look for another job, I couldn't find anything with comparable pay to my hourly+differential that wasn't just another call center. The fiery flames of hell don't have a thing on being forced to listen to stupid old people ramble about their car problems and financial woes 40 hours a week. Sometimes you have to take a step down to get where you eventually want to go. I was 22 years old and had been waiting tables since I was 16. I made great money at a steak house but I was finishing up school and needed to get my foot in the door in a computer related industry. I took a pay cut to do phone based tech support for 13 bucks an hour...but after spending some time doing that, eventually made the move into corp IT and now I'm where I wanted to be. It sucks, but sometimes you have to make the hard decisions.
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Jul 27, 2012 19:29
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JackRabbitStorm posted:I am an inch away from being fired and just got offered a job that is a dollar less now hour, but potential for commission, but is 10 miles further commute than my current job. What do I do? Weren't you like a superemployee at the bank? What happened?
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Jul 27, 2012 22:47
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UtahIsNotAState posted:I was wondering if any ex-call center employees are dealing with phone phobias in new positions. Yeah. But it'll pass.
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Jul 27, 2012 22:49
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Dear Northeastern United States: please stop calling us forever, or at least until you learn to speak English. A refresher: You live in Massachusetts, not Mass We sell computers, not 'da 'puters Our cashiers name is Sarah, not fat bitch
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Jul 28, 2012 01:58
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:Weren't you like a superemployee at the bank? What happened? I was. Then I realized that all the promotions I was promised were a carrot on a string, and I wasn't going to go anywhere. So I stopped giving a poo poo. I did the bare minimum to keep my job, and lately even less then that. Benzoyl Peroxide posted:I just read through your post history to catch up on your history, as I knew you had been posting for some time. I really do hope that this new job works out for you! Thanks, I just looked through my own history and other then a few bitchings about particular bad customers, most of my gripes were management. Like I said previously, I had a good time working with my clients for the most part. And thanks to everyone else, and good luck getting out yourselves. Martryrdumb, I was 2 months from hitting 5 years and when I started my 5 year plan was to be in a M-F office job. I realized that was not going to happen in the company I worked for, so I actually switched from banking to real estate. Gothmog1065, thats how almost all of us start. I got my job at the call center and was ecstatic, it was job security and a nice paycheck. But don't become a lifer.
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Jul 28, 2012 15:26
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Tonight is my first night of working the 3:30 to midnight shift. According to a friend who started it last night (I should have but I called in sick so I could go to a baby shower...)the call volume is normal until 7, then slows until 10:30 and then between 10:30 to midnight there's usually 6 - 7 minutes between each call. Plus our customer service/billing department closes at 9 so we get to more or less give people the number for them and tell them to call back tomorrow. Ahahahaha. I think I'll take my sketchbook and some pencils tonight and alternate between that and searching for a new job in the down time between calls. Also, thank god, they've gone from super strict about cell phone use on the floor (we might steal people's information! OH NOES!) to not batting an eye or even asking us to use our phones if one of the other agents isn't as knowledgeable on the type/set up of them.
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Jul 30, 2012 16:19
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I am also leaving. Thursday is my last day at work. I put in my two weeks notice because I got a fellowship at grad school. It's only for one semester so if I need to come back to the call center I wanted to make sure I didn't burn any bridges. The pay was not bad, the hours were OK and I managed to avoid being yelled at most days. I was actually tempted to rescind my 2 weeks notice and keep working until school started but I think I'm going to leave anyway. i have important things to do before school starts again like sleep in and drink beer. The job was not great but I liked helping people and I got lots of stories to tell now. If anybody lives in central Kentucky I can hook you up with job. they are hiring like 50 billion people a month because attrition is 50 pct.
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Jul 30, 2012 23:21
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cuntvalet posted:Tonight is my first night of working the 3:30 to midnight shift. According to a friend who started it last night (I should have but I called in sick so I could go to a baby shower...)the call volume is normal until 7, then slows until 10:30 and then between 10:30 to midnight there's usually 6 - 7 minutes between each call. This and overnight are the best way to work. When I worked in a call centre our volume dropped at 9pm on the dot, I worked till 11. So it was two hours of fun and games for 20 odd people
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Jul 31, 2012 00:34
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sbaldrick posted:This and overnight are the best way to work. When I worked in a call centre our volume dropped at 9pm on the dot, I worked till 11. So it was two hours of fun and games for 20 odd people It was good, since we had a lot of new people on the floor, they asked me to act as floor support for tonight and tomorrow, so come 7 pm, I'm off the phones and helping people with any questions they might have!
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Jul 31, 2012 05:49
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cuntvalet posted:It was good, since we had a lot of new people on the floor, they asked me to act as floor support for tonight and tomorrow, so come 7 pm, I'm off the phones and helping people with any questions they might have! How many people are we talking here? Because five minutes between calls sounds horrifically inefficient. The thought of occupancy being that low is making my brain ache. Also glad you're in a place where they acknowledge having one more experienced person off the phones can act as a multiplier for the efficiency of the rest. I hate it when places go all hands to the pump to rescue their service level and end up with longer AHTs and wait times because Johnny Two Days In has a billion questions and no one around to answer them.
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Jul 31, 2012 09:53
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Fil5000 posted:How many people are we talking here? Because five minutes between calls sounds horrifically inefficient. The thought of occupancy being that low is making my brain ache. I think we had about 25 people from 7 to 10:30 and then from 10:30 to Midnight there was about 15 of us taking calls with about 5 - 10 minutes in between. Gotta love late shifts. Also, they took a lot of us off for "training" (aka sitting around not taking calls) so the wait time dropped a little. I'm kinda bummed though, one of the guys from wave 1 (the wave I was trained in) gets to floor walk after 7 pm all this week, I was only asked because he's off today, but I think judging by what happened yesterday, he'll start floor walking at 7-ish and I'll fill in the spaces as the night progresses. Hmn...
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Jul 31, 2012 18:51
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space pope posted:I am also leaving. Thursday is my last day at work. I put in my two weeks notice because I got a fellowship at grad school. It's only for one semester so if I need to come back to the call center I wanted to make sure I didn't burn any bridges. Congrats man!
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Jul 31, 2012 21:18
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Thanks. On my last day I had a 2 hour call that was simultaneously both my best and worst call. The guy called in very angry, but very articulate and calm. I spent about 45 minutes calming him down and then another 45 minutes making friends. I actually helped him fix a couple problems. It actually felt really good, he had been treated pretty badly at an Apple store and I think he just needed somebody to listen to him. His biggest complaint was that his phone only held 100 recent calls. By the end of it he was laughing and telling jokes.
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Aug 3, 2012 16:09
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JackRabbitStorm posted:Gothmog1065, thats how almost all of us start. I got my job at the call center and was ecstatic, it was job security and a nice paycheck. But don't become a lifer.
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Aug 3, 2012 22:15
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Christ, I can't believe I forgot about the $2000 a year tuition assistance I've stupidly not been taking advantage of for at least 5 months now. Time to enroll in some classes  I'll claw my way out of here yet!!!
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Aug 3, 2012 23:00
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Loving Life Partner posted:Christ, I can't believe I forgot about the $2000 a year tuition assistance I've stupidly not been taking advantage of for at least 5 months now. Time to enroll in some classes They usually have a bunch of gotchas to weasel their way out of this, and also $2k isn't a ton. Just make sure you read everything closely.
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Aug 3, 2012 23:27
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Their definitions seem pretty broad, but I'll review everything with my supe before proceeding, since it's reimbursement based. I don't have much college at all, so I'll just probably take a bunch of cheap core classes at Pikes Peak Community here in town.
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Aug 4, 2012 15:21
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It's amazing how a company can lose 20 people, let half of our tools stop loving working, then wonder why we have a service level of <1%, and we have 50-60 people in queue constantly. And nothing is being done. Nothing.
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Aug 4, 2012 17:44
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Every time I work my way up to getting out of my job.. The company feels like everyone must be getting that way and throws us a bone.. My company decided to "reevaulate" pay grades for all employees across the board, and determined that we deserve a raise anywhere from 15-20% more. I can't scoff at an extra 10K a year and now I'm like "I guess I can do it for a little while longer" I'm coming up on 4 years, I really need out for my sanity, but I can't find anywhere else that has comparable pay/benefits.
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Aug 4, 2012 18:18
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Fizzle posted:I'm coming up on 4 years, I really need out for my sanity, but I can't find anywhere else that has comparable pay/benefits.
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Aug 4, 2012 19:17
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New pet peeve: Number crunchers who want everything sliced 8 different ways, but don't loving WRITE EACH ITERATION DOWN, and can't fathom just getting the base numbers and making them dance themselves. "How much to add this car?" "X dollars" "What is that monthly?" *DIVIDES BY SIX* "Y dollars" "What if I don't have B-coverage?" *removes* "Q dollars" "And if I do have b-coverage again?" "... y dollars" "what if I don't have b-coverage, what's the monthly on that?" *changes, divides by 6* "T dollars" "And the monthly with B-coverage again?" "... y dollars" "And without?" "... T dollars I'VE GIVEN YOU ALL THESE loving NUMBERS 8 GOD DAMNED TIMES NOW ARGH" Loving Life Partner fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Aug 4, 2012 |
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Aug 4, 2012 21:34
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Gothmog1065 posted:Like someone said, you might have to take a hit to get the hell out. Right now I'm not getting ANYTHING. Then again, I just applied for apple "pro support" or whatever. Work at home, more pay and a free computer? Even if it's an apple? Sure. Anything to get out of this place. I work at one of their call centres, Apple is actually really good to work for, at least in the AsiaPac region. Though if you have the choice, try to get into one of their callcentres. If you're good at your job, you'll find it far easier to get promoted. I don't think Apple brings at 'at-home' advisor's up to Tier 2, and I speak from experience that Tier 2 keeps the job interesting. Day after day of old people wanting help getting their photos off their iPad almost killed me.
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Aug 5, 2012 05:58
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1 manager to every 2.5 grunts ratio*. Before people left those roles I considered it a bit of a laugh, like we lost so many staff that they were left with this vestigal organ of absolutely loving useless management. Now they've rehired to keep the ratio alive and I am a little dumbfounded. This just means one more dipshit assigning work to me because 'nobody else has been trained' despite the 40% individual face time are all due thanks to the sheer volume of management and they still haven't worked out of how to, poo poo, I dunno, train people? *Effective rate is closer to 1:2 because of P/T staff and one-man-teams wh only need a manager to call when they're sick I'm taking some unpaid leave very soon. I dread the thought of what will be waiting in the queues when I get back, but then again there's something very cathartic and personally justifying about how every time I go on leave there is a backlog of cases to the day I left. I'm not even exaggerating. I need to stop reading the forums and start doing my homework so I can resign with confidence later this year.
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Aug 6, 2012 13:52
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Lord Windy posted:I work at one of their call centres, Apple is actually really good to work for, at least in the AsiaPac region. No call centers for apple any where near me (Asheville NC and Charleston SC are the only two). I just got another interview for another "help desk" position, but it's for a furniture manufacturing, and I'll be much more involved in the networking side of things other than just listening to people scream at me all day. It's funny though, I think the leadership at my department (Who I might add, for the most part are actually pretty awesome. Most of the employees are there) may be realizing they should have been pushing for people earlier. It seems like there is a mass exodus in our department, I know of at least 6 others that applied for the WAH Apple position, and one of the "lifers" just left. The past few weeks, even the past month have been hell as we've been slammed in call volume, and they're just now hiring people. At the rate their experienced techs are leaving, they won't have much choice. The worst thing is I consider myself pretty drat awesome on the phones. Most of my customers leave happy, and I love helping other people, training them and whatnot. I can't do any actual mentoring for anyone because I have been out 5 times in the past 6 months (Two with legitimate medical reasons), and late twice (By less than 15 minutes), so I got a "written warning" and can no longer officially mentor other agents. The head trainer there said she'd love to see me mentoring, thinks I'd be great at it. The problem is, I don't think I was ever on any lists to mentor or help agents. I don't think my supervisor ever did it, and every time I asked he was exceptionally non committal about it. The one thing I was looking forward to this next class (Even before I was "exempted" because of the warning) was never there. Even before I was out this last time, I was never let to mentor. It kind of pisses me off pretty badly. Hopefully this interview will pan out.
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Aug 6, 2012 22:45
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Kat Delacour posted:1 manager to every 2.5 grunts ratio*. wow. I found out recently our company is around 1:8.6 management to employee ratio which is way leaner than industry standards.
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Aug 7, 2012 15:33
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What do you guys think of this theory I just came up with? It rings true. Friend: So what are the downsides to working there? Me: The callers and the corporate zombie management Friend: corporate zombie management...what is that? Me: like, there's regular people in the top level right? they are real and act like human beings, but you can't have a company composed of people who act like human beings because you'd go out of business in a day, because nobody who calls a company wants anyone to act like a human being, they want the rep to be a machine that does what they want so the people up top come up with these 'initiatives" and "objectives" to help the make the "call experience" amazing, to 'surprise and delight' the customer but we in the trenches don't believe that bullshit either, because we actually take calls and have to do whats right but in the middle, between the top and the bottom, you have the people who have to peddle that bullshit and believe it they're the zombies
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Aug 7, 2012 17:28
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